Camera, etc. suggestions for front entry

[Ira]

I want to add a camera(s), doorbell, etc. to the front entry in the picture below. The doors are each 32"x96". The area is raised about a foot (starting immediately behind the bench in the picture). The ceiling is about 10' high in that area. The walls perpendicular to the doors are about seven feet apart. There's not much room to do anything on the wall that contains the doors, but there's plenty of room on the perpendicular walls, and the walls are open to the studs (for about another week) on the inside of the house. The doors will soon be replaced with ones that have some type of glass panels in them.
 
The desire is to be able to tell who is at the front door from an iPhone, the television, etc. I'm starting from scratch in that I don't have any cameras, and no doorbell at this time. I'm willing to consider an all-in-one wireless solution like SkyBell, Ring, etc., but I would rather have something more integrated with my Elk M1G (I plan on getting an Elk 930 doorbell detector) and CQC. I preferred wired devices, but I also have wireless. No camera experience, so no preferences except wired and digital. Long term plans to use UPB to control some lights, likely including the hanging light fixture at the doors and recessed fixtures on the two "side porch" areas.
 
What would you do for this entry way? Would you have cameras on the porch area (away from the front doors), too?
 
Thanks,
Ira
 
 

 

[pete_c]

Here connected the doorbell to my OmniPro 2 using two Elk boards - doorbell / debounce board.  It was a bit difficult when I updated the doorbell button to a sealed LED button as it was in the frame between the glass side panels of the door.
 
Relating to cameras used three cams that looked at each other.  Side view of front porch, top view of porch and walk and mailbox view.   One Optex combo, 2 Grandstream IP HD and sensors.  My preference of lens is a 2.8mm.  Today too you can purchase a nice fish eye with 180 degree look to it.  Old Optex combo's (PIR and Cam) are very discreet and look more like PIRs than cameras and made to last forever.  New ones look like cameras.  They are also just little computers with RTC, recording media and an extensive linux based firmware OS.  (Axis is like this too).
 
Personally prefer a wired solution over a wireless.  That said I did cut in to brick for my set up which was a PITA to do.
 
Side run went to the attic in the garage to the second floor attic and down a chase to the basement patch panel / server room.  Top run was just from the eave in to the attic but further away. 
 
For television views there is a post here for a mini server with HDMI using an RPI to plug in to your television.  I do similiar today with my Kodi boxes or also utilize a Grandstream decoder / encoder device that intefaces with the old HAI video / Omnitouch hub plus an Axis server.  HD IP is split to digital and analog here mixing the old and the new.
 
Here is a live lens calculator from :
 
Polaris USA
 
Used analog motion sensors plus doorbell button for triggers.  (PIR and under the front walk vibration sensors).
 
You can also today just purchase a cloud enabled doorbell / cam combo.  This is an easy off the shelf solution.
 
First way mentioned above is more of a DIY solution.  It is up to you relating to funding / time spent to do this project.

 

[tmbrown97]

I can't quite get enough detail on what you're working with from that picture, but here's what I'll suggest - the front door is a great place to get facial details that can be hard to get elsewhere - but you do that by getting below eye level and looking up at them (that way hoodies and hats don't block the face).  Also people tend to linger at the door for longer than other places.
 
For overall coverage, you have separate goals - identification/proof and being able to get an idea of what's going on - so I cover the door as well as the areas around so I can tell if something is creeping around the house, even if I can't get the details from those views.
 
Ring and others are pretty good too, and have simpler apps, but don't integrate into bigger wired systems. 

 

[Ira]

While researching Ring, SkyBell, August, etc., I came across the Doorbird...
 
www.doorbird.com
 
More expensive than the others and mixed reviews, but it seems like it is attempting to appeal to the HA DIY'er market. It has POE, wired/wireless network, a couple of dry contacts, an open API, and some other interesting features. Installation would be pretty hard if the walls aren't open (mine are), because taking advantage of many of the features requires more wires.
 
The camera is 720P compared to 1080P for the competitors. Is 720P good enough?

 

[pete_c]

At that close range both 720/1080 would suffice.  You could see much granular details depending on the positioning of the camera.  Here the issue that I had was related to the doorbell between the door frame and the side glass panel and only two wires inside of the frame.  While it is a PITA to wire to a brick face it is not too difficult to cut in to inside drywall for running a chase. (I did this while repainting rooms).  Just recently used a professional drywall repair company for one little project.  You cannot tell that the drywall was cut.  It was a bit much for a small section of drywall.
 
A front facing camera would provide best details.  Here went to the side mounted camera and it was mounted up at some 7-8 feet tilted down with only a side view.  I have seen wide angle cams mounted over the door facing down.

 

[CarolP]

[SIZE=11pt]Studies have shown that 70% of burglars enter through a door like the front or patio doors as opposed to the windows. Upgrading the deadbolt and lockset plates would fortify the security of your home. In my neighbourhood a front door surveillance camera caught a man stealing a Christmas wreath. Out of the three-quarters of the theft, 81% enter through the first floor and 34% enter through the front door. Many older homes have inadequate security hardware. A simple door jammer is a good security device.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]High rated locks and not a tatty single cylinder lock would help you with burglar proof doors. The statistics that, the vast majority of residential, break-ins in the Greater Toronto Area is through entry doors point to the fact that we need to invest in bolstering the security of our front doors (http://protectionplus.ca/residential/door-reinforcement/door-guardian/#sthash.etXkJjhs.dpbs).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]These days there are many innovative door locking systems available in the market.[/SIZE]
 
 

 

[BaduFamily]

A great site with a lot of camera comparisons is http://bensoftware.com/securityspy/
They make a handy Mac OS program, but you can ignore that to get a wealth of suggestions about IP cameras, networking etc. Their forum is worth browsing.
 
Now to your point my DIY approach uses a Legrand OnQ doorbel/intercom. These contain a relay which I've connected to our Elk M1. When the relay closes some code I wrote contacts the Axis cameras around the joint and starts sending photos to a mailing list. ( clearly you coud do what ever you want along this line, for example my code also tells our Vantage lighting system to bring up some extra lights... )
 
( note the cameras are also doing motion detection, this is just an 'acute' moment to capture, and to get photos off-site )
 
Unclear what your budget is but Axis has some great low profile cameras specifically for entrances.

 

[johngalt]

Based on the opinions on ipcamtalk.com forums I just ordered one of these to look at my front door.
 
https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/dahua-starlight-varifocal-turret-ipc-hdw5231r-z.14683/
 
I also ordered a NVR 
 
https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/dahua-nvr-5216-16p-4ks2.17194/
 
You could use Blue Iris which I think integrates with HomeSeer and CQC.  The NVR I ordered does have a few input/output dry contacts that I plan on hooking up to my Elk panel.
 
I haven't received or installed anything yet, so I can't give you and feedback.